TishR wrote:Do I really think Tony and Kurt will get into it? Yes. It may not be in public but it will happen. If you listen to Kurt's radio chatter you will realize he has improved some but as of the last few races he has started to revert back to his old ways. He can put on a good public persona when he has to. It is contract time.

As to Gene wanting his companies name in victory lane, I think he is referring to Haas Automation because I don't think any of the races he actually sponsored made it there. As to being highly qualified I guess it means boat loads of money.

That is EXACTLY what he is referring to!

well if he was as dedicated to Ryan as he wants to be to Kurt, he would have had Haas Automation in victory lane several times.

I agree Schmoopy, if they would have supported Ryan better then he would have had at least one victory for himself.

It was Gene's call, 100%. Tony and Zippy were initially not on board but Haas was going to do the deal anyway. Tony is on board with it now. Also Gene's call to replace Ryan. Said he wanted to do something different.

"This one's for every one of those fans in the stands that pull for me every week and take all the bull**** from everybody else." - Tony Stewart, July 29, 2007

Gene Haas: Never crossed that bridge. Tony does his own thing & I do my own thing. He wasn't especially enthralled w what I did. But I think he saw it my way. It's either or that or get out of the building. He has some power, but I do, too. The two powers balance each other out. If we don't win any races next year, hey, I look like an idiot. But I think we're going to win more races than anybody thought possible."

"This one's for every one of those fans in the stands that pull for me every week and take all the bull**** from everybody else." - Tony Stewart, July 29, 2007

Example: Tony told Gene they would have to wait to start a 4th team and Gene told Tony that he had already offered Kurt a ride.

We were out of the house for several hours & I just caught up on the Twitters from the many media people present at the news conference. Just confirmed what I thought about Gene as news of this deal started to break. Tony will suck it up and deal with it like a true professional.

Gene Haas: Never crossed that bridge. Tony does his own thing & I do my own thing. He wasn't especially enthralled w what I did. But I think he saw it my way. It's either or that or get out of the building. He has some power, but I do, too. The two powers balance each other out. If we don't win any races next year, hey, I look like an idiot. But I think we're going to win more races than anybody thought possible."

To clarify something in an above post, it isn't Kurt that they weren't on board with. It's the fourth car, getting it done at this stage of the year. And Tony was right about them not really having room to do four cars. Won't be until June that the expansion of the building to house the presumptive 00 team. Going to be using an adjacent building until then.

"This one's for every one of those fans in the stands that pull for me every week and take all the bull**** from everybody else." - Tony Stewart, July 29, 2007

Gene Haas: Never crossed that bridge. Tony does his own thing & I do my own thing. He wasn't especially enthralled w what I did. But I think he saw it my way. It's either or that or get out of the building. He has some power, but I do, too. The two powers balance each other out. If we don't win any races next year, hey, I look like an idiot. But I think we're going to win more races than anybody thought possible."

If they can all get on the same page (seems to be the case, Harvick just stated he's 100% with it, Danica said the same in Bristol) and they can get the cars built and the people hired to work on them and pit them, then it should be okay. Part of the problem this year was an all-around shortage of parts for the Chevy SS (something everyone was dealing with). That shouldn't be a problem next year. Still a bit of a task but I think they can make it work.

"This one's for every one of those fans in the stands that pull for me every week and take all the bull**** from everybody else." - Tony Stewart, July 29, 2007

Doesn't anyone understand what kind of damage this has done to Tony? Tony took a start and park team and turned it into a championship team in 3 years with Ryan and himself. Tony has worked hard to make SHR a success where Gene Haas couldn't. Now that the team is strong, Gene comes in and offers a contract Kurt Busch who we all know Tony has issues with. He did this without talking to Tony about it - Gene admitted that today - and did it when after Tony was injured. Tony has been taking the heat for this for over a week now with everyone thinking he lied to Ryan and in the press conference in New Hampshire. Tony has had a rep of being an honest and above board driver/businessman for years. That's why Gene Haas offered him the opportunity to partner with him. Now that the team is successful, thanks to Tony I might add, Gene comes in and does this. Damaging Tony's rep and making it look like Tony doesn't know what's going on while he races on dirt during the week. I am so upset that this has happened to Tony. He does not deserve any of this. For Gene to tell him to get on board or leave the building is insulting and shows just what an a$$hole he is. I just hope that Tony's legal team can figure a way for Tony to buy out Haas after Kurt's contract is up so he can have complete control and rebrand it Stewart Racing.

Gene seems to think he has the knowledge to sign a driver and be successful at it. If he could, why did the team flounder so badly for 10 years? It was only after Tony took over that the team started to win and build a reputation of being a top contender. Gene's man crush on Kurt is going to blow up in his face when the organization starts to come apart because of Kurt's unprofessional attitude and lack of being able to play well with others. Now that Gene has his boy toy, he will go back to California and leave the whole mess to Tony to handle and when it comes apart he'll blame Tony for everything. That is what people like Gene do. They are never wrong and blame everyone else for their mistakes.

Tony, this was not of your doing and I will always support you and YOUR race teams.

Gene, I hope you choke on it. Karma is a cold hearted #### and she has your name.

This entire thing has been a mystery. Chapter 2 coming up. Does anyone know the damage that has been done? Of course but this is dealing with someone who has unlimited funds and a mind that says he can do what he wants when he wants it. I never expected the baggage that is connected to any of this.

The Military Thanks You For Standing Behind Them. If You Can't Do that You Can Always Stand In Front Of Them.....Think About It.....

Thank you to those who took a step forward to save the rest who stand still.

The worst part of all of this is that if you go and browse Tony's face book page and the SHR face book page people are demonizing Tony for what went down and won't face the fact that Gene did this all on his own. Gene put Tony in a bad spot.